A New Era for U.S. Crypto Regulation

During his campaign and early presidency, Donald Trump made bold promises about supporting cryptocurrency. Now, with Executive Order 14178, he has taken a concrete step toward reshaping U.S. digital asset policy. Titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” this order explicitly protects the right to access and use public blockchain networks for lawful purposes without government persecution.

This shift is a regulatory victory for the crypto industry. After years of aggressive enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including lawsuits and penalties against major exchanges, Trump’s approach signals a more collaborative stance. But this policy shift doesn’t equate to a free-for-all but does imply an increase in compliance and regulations. Anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement would remain a top priority, and businesses that fail to meet compliance standards will face serious consequences.

Take, for example, the case of OKX, which was slapped with a $500 million fine by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in February 2025 for facilitating $5 billion in suspicious transactions. Similarly, KuCoin faced a $300 million enforcement action for anti-money laundering failures, further underscoring the increasing regulatory crackdown on compliance lapses in the crypto industry. This underscores a key reality: while the volume of enforcement actions may decline, the severity of penalties for AML failures will likely increase. Trump’s crypto policies may ease regulatory uncertainty, but they will also demand higher compliance standards from the industry.

The SEC alone—just one of several agencies involved in Chokepoint 2.0—brought 17 enforcement actions in 2021, 30 in 2022, a peak of 46 in 2023 and 33 in 2024. This pattern reflected a broader effort to regulate crypto through enforcement rather than clear legislative guidance. While the shift in regulatory approach under the Trump administration suggests a departure from aggressive crackdowns and a more crypto-friendly environment, it does not mean that compliance obligations will disappear.

Stablecoins: A Boon for Innovation, But a Challenge for AML

One of the most significant aspects of Executive Order 14178 is its strong endorsement of stablecoins, specifically the push to “promote the development and growth of lawful and legitimate dollar-backed stablecoins worldwide.”

This is a strategic move. Today, the U.S. dollar dominates the stablecoin market, with eleven of the top stablecoins pegged to USD. As adoption continues to surge, stablecoins could become the de facto digital dollar—but with this rise comes heightened regulatory scrutiny.

AML risks tied to stablecoins are not hypothetical. Consider the case of TGR Group, which used a Wyoming-based front entity to launder funds for Russian elites evading sanctions through U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins. This case highlights a growing concern: as stablecoin use expands, so do illicit finance risks.

Lawmakers are already responding. The Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act, along with several other proposed bills, seeks to establish clearer rules for stablecoin issuers, including strict one-to-one asset backing and robust AML provisions. With an 18-6 bipartisan vote on March 14, 2025, the GENIUS Act establishes a structured regulatory framework that balances innovation with safeguards against financial crime. It designates stablecoin issuers as financial institutions for AML purposes, imposing strict compliance obligations, including AML and sanctions compliance programs, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity reporting. This marks a critical shift in how digital asset providers are regulated, firmly placing them within the existing financial regulatory perimeter. By integrating these requirements into the licensing process, the act ensures stablecoins align with traditional financial oversight while reinforcing transparency and accountability.

However, compliance remains a monumental challenge. In 2024, stablecoin transfer volume hit $27.6 trillion—exceeding Visa and Mastercard combined. Identifying illicit transactions within this massive volume is the ultimate needle-in-a-haystack problem and will need scalable blockchain data analytics tools to tackle.

For crypto businesses, the lesson is clear: more regulatory clarity does not mean less compliance work. The focus will shift from regulatory uncertainty to practical implementation of AML safeguards at scale. The only way to stay ahead of evolving compliance requirements is to lean in towards technology and build out a compliance technology stack that can evolve with changing requirements

Regulatory Shifts in Financial Infrastructure: Opportunities and Compliance Challenges

Another major policy change is Trump’s directive for “fair and open access to banking services” for law-abiding crypto businesses. This marks a reversal of Biden-era policies that led to the shutdown of Signature Bank, partly due to its Signet blockchain-based payments platform. The collapse left crypto firms scrambling for banking access, exposing the vulnerabilities of an industry too reliant on a few institutions.

While this new policy seeks to reintegrate crypto into the traditional financial system, it doesn’t eliminate the need for robust compliance frameworks. Banks will still demand stringent AML measures from crypto clients, including:

• Customer due diligence (CDD) to verify user identities.

• Transaction monitoring to detect suspicious activity.

• Travel Rule compliance to track fund movements across jurisdictions.

• Sanctions screening to prevent illicit transactions.

Simply put, access to banks is not a given—it must be earned. Crypto businesses must proactively strengthen their AML controls to assure financial institutions that they are not exposing themselves to regulatory risk.

One of the more striking aspects of Executive Order 14178 is its explicit rejection of a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC). The order prohibits the establishment, issuance, and circulation of a U.S. CBDC, arguing that such a system poses threats to financial stability, individual privacy, and national sovereignty.

This decision is significant, particularly as over 134 countries have explored CBDCs, with some—such as Nigeria, Jamaica, and the Bahamas—already implementing them. While the U.S. Federal Reserve had been researching the potential for a digital dollar, the executive order shuts the door on further development.

For crypto businesses, this move reinforces the dominance of stablecoins as the primary digital asset for transactions and payments. Without a government-backed competitor, USD-backed stablecoins will remain the de facto digital dollar, solidifying their role in the financial system. However, this heightened reliance on stablecoins will also invite greater regulatory oversight. As stablecoins become more entrenched, they will likely face stricter AML compliance measures, mirroring traditional financial infrastructure requirements.

The takeaway? While the prohibition on CBDCs removes competition from government-backed alternatives, it does not lessen the compliance burden for stablecoin issuers, exchanges, or financial institutions. Instead, it signals an era of greater regulatory scrutiny over stablecoin markets.

The Bottom Line: Compliance is the Key to Long-Term Success

Executive Order 14178 provides a clearer regulatory framework and signals a shift toward greater crypto adoption, but it does not eliminate compliance obligations. If anything, it places greater responsibility on crypto businesses to prove they can operate within the bounds of financial integrity.

To navigate this evolving landscape, crypto firms must:

• Invest in advanced compliance solutions to keep pace with regulatory expectations.

• Foster partnerships with law enforcement and regulators to combat illicit finance proactively.

• Prioritize transparency and risk mitigation to maintain access to banking and financial services.

The future of crypto regulation in the U.S. is still unfolding, but one thing is certain: businesses that embrace compliance as a strategic advantage will be the ones that thrive.